ASD Winter School 2014

An intense week of Theatre Sound seminars

January 27-31st, 2014

Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London

These seminars are open and free to all students and tutors, as well as all members of the ASD. You can register for any (or all) of the seminars individually using the links below.

ASD members may benefit from our travel assistance scheme and receive money towards the cost of travelling to this event.

Monday, January 27th - Content Creation & Playback

12amIntroduction by Gareth Fry

12.15 - 1.45pmRecording sound effects

Legendary sound designer John Leonard goes through some of the tools and techniques to record sound effects for theatre, focusing on the practical problems of recording in the real world. As well as looking at conventional stereo techniques, John will demo parabolic microphones, ambisonics and surround sound recording techniques.

John Leonard started work in theatre sound almost 40 years ago, during which time he has provided soundtracks for theatres all over the world. He has written an acclaimed guide to theatre sound and is the recipient of Drama Desk and LDI Sound Designer Of The Year awards and is a Fellow of The Guildhall School of Music & Drama and an Honorary Fellow of The Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts.

1.45 - 2.30pmLunch

2.30 - 4.30pmCSC for Beginners

CSC is sound playback and show control software which has unique features that have been developed especially for use in musical theatre. West End musicals using CSC have included Top Hat, Cabaret, Starlight Express, Sister Act and Evita. It is also used on The Woman in Black and The Mousetrap. Lead programmer, Richard Carter, walks through how to get started using the software.

Video interval: NI Reaktor

4.45 - 6.30pmHow to Foley

Foley artist Tom Espiner shows some of the tips of the trade, from simple solutions to create naturalistic effects, to more abstract foley techniques. He will be joined by sound designer Gareth Fry to examine best methods of recording, amplifying and processing live and recorded fx.

Tuesday, January 28th - Radio Mics

10am - 1pmIntroduction to RF

Shure’s Tuomo Tolonen leads a seminar on how to achieve the best performance from your wireless microphones by understanding the technologies behind them:

- Overview and update on the current regulatory situation in the UK/EU.- Basics of RF; what system is right for me? Intermods- what are they?- Co-ordination - how to best setup your radio system from initial scans to antenna setup.

2 - 4pmPin the Radio Mic on the Actor

4 - 6pmKeeping the performers onside

Maintaining a good relationship with the performers is key to success, particularly on a musical. A panel of experts discuss their approaches to Vocal Foldback and the everyday politics of keeping an ensemble performing at their best. On the panel: sound designers Paul Groothuis and Gareth Fry, Wicked's sound HOD Hyder Khalil and radio mic expert Zoe Milton.

Wednesday, January 29th - Electro-Acoustics

10am - 1pmFundamentals of Acoustics

Duran Audio's Nick Screenleads this seminar introducing principals of room acoustics such as reflectivity, reverberation and inteligibility - looking at why two similar looking rooms can sound very different. The seminar will then look at how a single speaker's dispersion pattern effects how it will sound in a space - and the three key variables that define how good that speaker will sound. This seminar is perfect if you're an acoustics newbie!

1 - 1.45pmLunch

1.45 - 3pmLine Array Theory

Using a range of experiments and examples, Steve Jones, from d&b audiotechnik will demystify the principles of line arrays, leaving the attendee better equipped to use and deploy line arrays to their full potential.

3.15 - 6pmDelaying and balancing a sound system

Having chosen and installed a sound system, the next step is to make it sound good. Meyer Sound's Miguel Lourtie demonstrates techniques on optimising a sound system’s performance using delay, EQ... to get the most gain before feedback and optimal imaging.

6.30pmPub Quiz

Thursday, January 30th - The future now

10-11.45pmSource Oriented Reinforcement

Outboard's Robin Whittaker and Dave Haydon will explain and demonstrate the principles of SOR vocal localisation using the TiMax SoundHub delay-matrix and TiMax Tracker performer tracking system. Also outlined and demoed will be the system's TimeLine and PanSpace graphical sound effects and dynamic spatialisation programming interfaces and their integration with other showcontrol systems.

12 - 1pmSound Walk with Carolyn Downing

1 - 2pmLunch

2 - 4pmBeginner’s guide to Computer Networking

Dom Bilkey leads a seminar on computer networking, looking at the cables, connectors, switches and routers that can be used and explain the protocols that power them, and the problems that most commonly occur.

4.15 - 6pmAudio Networking

Increasingly we live in a world where everything connects together via a network cable. Yamaha lead this seminar on the various flavours of Audio Networking Protocols including Dante, AVB, Ethersound, and how best to implement them.

Friday, January 31st - Sound and beyond

10am - 12pmMusic: Rights, Wrongs and Wherefores

The National Theatre's Head of Music, Matthew Scott, looks at sourcing and using music, from the different periods of music and where to find what you're looking for, to the copyrights and permissions involved.Book a free place for this seminar

12- 1.15pmDJ techniques

Dan Savidge will be introducing some of the basic DJ techniques for editing and re-mixing music such as beat-matching. Dan (aka Bad Zuke) has been a professional DJ and dance music producer for 18 years with headline gigs at Ministry of Sound London, Pacha Ibiza, Mokai Sao Paolo; headline tours of Brasil, Hong Kong and Thailand and UK Festival sets at Winterwell, Bestival and The Big Chill. Dan was also one half of The Jinks until 2011.

2 - 4pmSound Education

A discussion led by Gregg Fisher of what is being taught at different education establishments, with recent graduates talking about what they felt were the most useful skills they had when they entered the industry, and what they learnt on the job; and sound designers and production engineers talk about what they feel about the skills of people coming into the industry. On the panel:Gregg Fisher (RCSSD), Gareth Evans (LAMDA), Andrew Taylor (GSMD), Tshari King (RADA), Frank Bradley (Bristol Old Vic), Jim Douglas (Autograph), Adrienne Quartly (SD) and Emily Legg (Royal Court).

4pmFinish

Terms and Conditions

Please note, the ASD reserves the right to make changes to the programme without prior notice. Such alterations may occasionally be necessary due to circumstances beyond our control.

All events will be filmed and photographed - your presence confirms your permission for the ASD to use any images or recordings of you in our publicity materials and seminar archive.

The ASD does not accept responsibility for anyone acting as a result of information or views expressed on its training courses including course material. Opinions expressed are those of individual trainers and not necessarily those of the ASD. Participants should take professional advice when dealing with specific situations.

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